E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Bar’rister.
One admitted to plead at the bar; one who has been “called to the bar.” The bar is the rail which divides the counsel from the audience, or the place thus enclosed. Tantamount to the rood-screen of a church, which separates the chancel from the rest of the building. Both these are relics of the ancient notion that the laity are an inferior order to the privileged class.
1
A silk gown or bencher pleads within the bar, a stuff gown or outer barrister pleads without the bar.
2
An Outer or Utter Barrister. This phrase alludes to an ancient custom observed in courts of law, when certain barristers were allowed to plead; but not being benchers (king’s counsel or sergeants-at-law) they took their seats “at the end of the forms called the bar.” The Utter Barrister comes next to a bencher, and all barristers inferior to the Utter Barristers are termed. “Inner Barristers.”
3
The whole society is divided into three ranks: Benchers, Utter Barristers, and Inner Barristers.
4
An Inner Barrister. A barrister inferior in grade to a Bencher or Utter Barrister.
5
A Revising Barrister. One appointed to revise the lists of electors.
6
A Vacation Barrister. One newly called to the bar, who for three years has to attend in “long vacation.”
A silk gown or bencher pleads within the bar, a stuff gown or outer barrister pleads without the bar.
